It's amazing to think about, but hockey icon Jaromir Jagr -- who turned 53 years old in February -- is still playing competitve hockey. But in this 2012 cover story, Jagr spoke exclusively to THN about his decision to sign with the Philadelphia Flyers -- the arch-enemy of his longtime Pittsburgh Penguins team:

MAN OVER MYTH

By Adam Proteau

The gap between perception and reality never seems bigger than it is when it comes to Jaromir Jagr. In his three years playing in the Russian-based Konti-nental League, some imagined he had lost a step and wouldn’t thrive again upon his return to the NHL. Others, who heard the urban legends about him and interpret his easygoing nature as a sign of weakness or lack of determination, just assumed he would never return and instead go on a world tour dating Czech supermodels. Others still thought that if and when he did return to North America, he would be fully intent on signing with Pittsburgh, where he won two Stanley Cups, and wouldn’t in a million years even dream of joining the Penguins’ hated rivals in Philadelphia.

But with his 40th birthday coming up in February and splashes of grey in his hair and facial stubble, Jagr is his own man. He doesn’t fritter away the days worrying about anyone’s perception of him. He long ago was resigned to the fact he can’t control the pictures painted by gutter Picassos. And now, as the elder statesman on a Flyers team that has been a perfect fit for him thus far, he’s intent on sucking the marrow out of every moment he has left in the NHL.

When Jagr departed for Russia in the summer of 2008, he was regarded as a depreciating asset. Over his final two years playing for the New York Rangers, his point production dropped an average of 26 points (from 123 in 2005-06 to 96 in ’06-07 to 71 in ’07-08). He finished off his Blueshirts career with an impressive five goals and 15 points in 10 playoff games, but when no contract offer was made to keep him in a Rangers jersey, he signed a two-year, $10-million deal to star for Avangard Omsk in Siberia.

That’s right – Siberia. The symbolism of him going from the most popular city on the planet to one of Earth’s most remote locations was overwhelming. But you’ll never get him to utter a discouraging word about his time there. Jaromir Jagr doesn’t do regret. “If you compare what you’re doing with your life to something else, what you’re comparing it to could be only your imagination,” Jagr said when asked whether he’d have preferred to stay in the NHL. “If you think it could be better somewhere else, you’re never going to be satisfied. But if you say, ‘it could be a lot worse if I didn’t do what I’m doing now,’ then you’re always happy. That’s what I’ve learned – whatever you’re doing, that’s the best thing you could do. It’s up to you how you’re going to control your brain.”

Although few of his NHL fans ever saw a minute of his KHL career, Jagr was in full control of his craft there as well. Omsk named him captain midway through his first season in Russia and instead of returning to the NHL last year, he re-signed for a third season. In 155 KHL games, he amassed 66 goals and 145 points. And when he represented his Czech Republic homeland at the World Championship the past two years, Jagr posted eight goals and 16 points in 18 games.

If he did miss anything, it was the smaller North American ice surface that allows him to take full advantage of his 6-foot-3, 230-pound frame and legendary ability to control and protect the puck. But the larger Russian ice surfaces were a benefit to him in another regard – one that made his readjustment to the ever-increasing pace of NHL hockey that much easier. “On the big ice, one thing that helped me was the skating,” Jagr said. “In three years there you skate a lot. It’s tough to score goals there because everything’s so far away. But I like to play on the small ice – you beat guys 1-on-1 in the corner and you have a scoring chance. Over there, when you beat guys 1-on-1 in the corner, you still don’t have a scoring chance. There’s somebody else you have to beat.”

In many respects, the only person Jagr worries about beating these days – other than the goalie, checking forwards and defensemen he faces on any given night – is Father Time. And that brings us to another flat-out falsehood about No. 68: that he’s played 18 NHL seasons and continues to excel strictly because of his supernatural abilities. In fact, the opposite is true. He takes great pains to keep himself in optimal physical condition. But because he’s Jaromir Jagr, he does it his way.

Whereas almost all NHLers are used to hitting the weight room each day after practice, Jagr operates differently. He doesn’t believe that, simply because the hockey world is accustomed to a typical training schedule, he has to abide by it if it doesn’t work for his body. So he’ll show up at the Flyers practice facility late at night to work out and/or skate. He’ll go for an 11 p.m. run the night before a game.

And when you hear him explain why he does it that way, it makes all the sense in the world. “Why I work at night is for one reason – if I go on ice in the morning and do a little bit off the ice, I cannot do a lot more because I’m already tired from the practice where I give 100 percent,” said Jagr, who also continues to use ankle weights and weight vests when he practices. “I always believe if you give 100 percent, your body only has an hour and 30, an hour and 45 maximum (at that level). So then you take a rest, wait eight or nine hours, then do it again. If I’m just gonna do it after practice just because someone told me to do it and I don’t feel fresh, it doesn’t make sense.”

Jagr’s approach to conditioning has rubbed off on the Flyers young players, including budding star James van Riemsdyk and fellow Czech Jakub Voracek, Jagr’s closest friend on the team. And it is one of the ways he’s become a leader in short order in the dressing room. Jagr won’t be making any Herb Brooks-style motivational speeches, but that’s not what he brings to the table. He has given his teammates an exceptional example of what a world-class work ethic looks like. And more importantly, he brings that famous smile of his to the office every single day to keep the room loose and positive.

You remember that smile, the one that’s as wide as the talent gulf that once existed between him and all but maybe two or three other players on the planet. He’s still got full wattage on it and you can see it on his face at a morning skate in Buffalo in early December. Indeed, his grin is by far the biggest of all the Flyers players on the ice that morning. He flips a puck into the back of unassuming Flyers defenseman Kevin Marshall, just to get a giggle out of him. He messes around with linemate and emerging superstar center Claude Giroux. Really, it doesn’t matter who he’s around for the beaming face to come out.

And while that might be in part a product of Philadelphia’s early-season success in the standings, it doesn’t go unappreciated by the men who made the decision to bring him into Philly in the first place. “His smile is infectious – in the room, on the ice, with everybody in the organization,” said Flyers coach Peter Laviolette, who believes Jagr remains one of the toughest players to knock off the puck. “I don’t know if he’s exceeded expectations or just picked up where he left off when he was in the NHL. He was a great player when he left, a great player in the Russian league and he’s been great for us since coming back. We’ve been extremely pleased with his performance. He’s come here with a terrific attitude, his work ethic has been excellent and he’s been a fantastic influence on our young players.”

Flyers GM Paul Holmgren, who signed Jagr to a one-year, $3.3-million contract on the first day of unrestricted free agency, echoed Laviolette’s praise. “Right from the first day with us in training camp, Jaromir’s preparation and professionalism have really stood out,” Holmgren said. “I can’t say enough how pleased I am. He’s been a real blessing for us.”

If he’s been a boon to the Flyers, Jagr has been a particularly strong influence on two young players. After his development stalled in Columbus, the 22-year-old Voracek is on course to set a career high in points with 55. And then there’s Giroux. The 23-year-old was just finding his NHL footing when Jagr was finishing up with the Rangers and has since blossomed like few others from his generation, going from 27 points in 42 games in 2008-09 to 47 points in his first full season of 2009-10 to 76 points last season. But this season, playing alongside Jagr and Scott Hartnell, Giroux is making those numbers look small. With 16 goals and 37 points in 27 games, the Hearst, Ont., native was on pace for a 49-goal, 112-point campaign.

With all due respect to Hartnell, Jagr’s influence clearly has given Giroux a performance boost. Jagr missed four of those first 27 games with lower-body injuries, but in the 23 games the dynamic duo did spend together, Jagr was nearly a point-per-gamer (nine goals, 22 points) and a guy delighted to have someone like himself who can see and think about the game at the most elite of levels. “His hockey sense is one of the best I’ve seen – no, make that the best I’ve seen,” Giroux said of Jagr, with whom he had chemistry on and off the ice since the first day of training camp. “That’s one of his best attributes – being able to communicate and getting everyone on the same page. Every day he’s happy to be at the rink. It’s not a job for him, it’s more about having fun with the boys.”

Jagr thinks so much of Giroux, who helped him break the 1,600-career-NHL-points plateau, he believes the youngster is already in the highest echelon of hockey’s elite. But it’s what’s inside Giroux’s ears that truly sets him apart and has made Jagr’s readjustment to NHL life that much easier. “He could be No. 1 shooter in the league eventually,” Jagr said of Giroux. “He’s gonna have a good challenge with (Sidney) Crosby, but you never know. One thing I like about him is he’s very smart. He’s 23 and he’s going to be better physically, but in the brain he’s 35. That’s why Crosby is so good. With their brain they beat their age by 15 years.”

One of the reasons Giroux and Jagr can display their offensive wizardry is the league’s crackdown on obstruction, something that wasn’t around during Jagr’s peak years as a Penguin in the mid-to-late ’90s. While he wasn’t as vocal about the NHL’s clutch-and-grab issues as former teammate Mario Lemieux, Jagr is pleased to see the steps that have been taken to give the game back to its best players.

“The league is doing a very good job listening to the fans, giving them what they like,” Jagr said. “People don’t want to see 1-0 games. Probably they don’t want to see 9-8 games either. But six, seven goals a game, I think that’s fair for the fans and the league did a great job to realize that. For a long time, the league was stuck in the same spot and when skilled players like Mario and Wayne (Gretzky) wanted to change it, the league didn’t listen. But then they started listening and the league is more popular than it’s ever been.”

One place where Jagr is not more popular than he’s ever been is Pittsburgh, where Penguins devotees saw his joining the Flyers as a treasonous move whose equivalent would be Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger signing with the Eagles. But again, the perception of the Pens’ interest in Jagr was entirely different from the reality he describes.

As Jagr sees it, he was unfairly linked to a return to the Penguins and raised the hopes of Pens fans because his heart was described as being “in Pittsburgh.” His agent, former NHLer Petr Svoboda, was the one who used that phrase, but those words never came out of Jagr’s mouth. And the notion he would accept Pittsburgh’s one-year, $2-million offer simply because of his history with the team was fatally flawed.

“Before I signed with anybody, I didn’t talk to any media,” Jagr said. “Whatever was written, I cannot control it. If someone writes my heart is in Pittsburgh, I would not go to Pittsburgh just because they wrote that. I didn’t talk with anybody and I didn’t say that. But when you go back, I was reading the newspapers and if you look at what was written one month before I even signed with Philly, I don’t think the (Penguins) coaches or GM, or the organization, wanted me to go there. They never talked about signing me at the (2011) World Championship. They were there and they saw me play. If they were really interested, they would talk to me there. So why all of a sudden are they upset one month later when I choose Philly?”

Indeed, when you look at the character assassination that routinely takes place when an elite player leaves his team for unrestricted free agent riches or in a trade (just ask former Flyers captain Mike Richards or current Flyers starting goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, both of whom were pilloried after leaving Philly and Phoenix), it becomes obvious the image of a Penguins organization truly forlorn after being spurned by Jagr was a public relations exercise in pleasing the team’s bitter fan base, not an indication of genuine interest in making the most of his services.

Although he makes it clear how many great memories he has of Pittsburgh, Jagr isn’t one to romanticize his glory days to the point of delusion and accept a role that likely wouldn’t have been as large as the one he currently enjoys in Philly. If that makes him the villain in Pittsburgh when he makes his first appearance there as a Flyer on Dec. 29 – and check out some Internet message boards to see precisely how loathed he’s become in the Steel City – he’s OK with that. He knows he’ll have the bad-guy moustache superimposed over his image by media types as he gets closer to that game, but he’s been around long enough to know how the news business works and what it says about the nature of people in general.

“It’s pretty tough to change people’s opinion about you, not just in this situation, but in general,” Jagr said. “I don’t think I did anything bad and if people see it differently, I cannot change it. But it’s your choice to like someone or not, so I don’t listen to any of that. You have to understand that people who are saying and writing that, they’re giving people what they want to hear. People want to hear bad news. That makes them happy. The media are not stupid – they know what articles people are reading the most. I don’t react to that because I know they’re only doing it to satisfy their fans and keep their jobs.”

Jagr lives in the moment as much as any hockey legend ever has. He’s never been married or had kids, but talks like someone who sees himself with a family sometime in the relative near future. He’s unsure what his post-career life will entail, although it’s safe to say you’re not going to see him follow Wayne Gretzky’s lead and decide to become an NHL coach one day.

He also confirmed plans to play at least one season in his Czech homeland before hanging up his skates for good and awaiting first-ballot induction into multiple halls of fame. But right now and for the remainder of this season, his sole goal is to bring a championship to a Pennsylvania-based NHL team and its long-suffering fans, just as he did for a different Pennsylvania-based team and their supporters two decades ago. “I’m having a lot of fun,” Jagr said. “The important thing here is the coaches and management find a way to make us enjoy the hockey and not make it just work. You work hard, but when you’re having fun, you work even harder.”

He works harder when he’s having fun? That’s not something you heard much about during most of his career. But what you hear about Jaromir Jagr isn’t often what you get when you talk to the man and those who know him. That’s why, whether or not jaded Penguins fans care to admit it, an NHL with Jagr in it – in any uniform – is an NHL that’s richer for having him.

“You can tell he cares about the game, about playing well, about the team,” said Flyers center Max Talbot. “Everything he does is to be better and I think people are realizing he just didn’t come back (to the NHL) for nothing. He came back to play good and to win.”

Ottawa Senators star goalie Linus Ullmark is a major part of the Sens' push to this year's Stanley Cup playoffs. But in this cover story from THN's March 20, 2023 edition, editor-in-chief Ryan Kennedy profiled Ullmark as he thrived with the Boston Bruins:

HITTING HIS MARK

By Ryan Kennedy

Boston goalie Linus Ullmark didn’t just walk into the room for his media availability at all-star weekend in Florida; he made an entrance. With a silver-and-white paisley suit enrobing his 6-foot-5 frame and a matching fedora that would make teammate/hockey style icon David Pastrnak proud, Ullmark was impossible to miss – just like his play on the ice for the Bruins this season. “I talked to my tailor and said, ‘Hey, we need to come up with something fancy now that it’s in Florida and it’s my first one,’” Ullmark said.

And hey, mission accomplished on that front. But the weekend also gave one of the NHL’s newest stars a chance to take it all in, as he was now in the same company as netminding titans such as Andrei Vasilevskiy, Igor Shesterkin and Connor Hellebuyck. “It’s always fun to be around guys who are great at their job,” Ullmark said. “To see what they’re doing, pick their brains a little. It’s just about being in the moment for me.”

As Boston carved a path of carnage through the NHL – at one point, it looked like the B’s might threaten the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens’ modern record of only eight losses in a season – it was clear the team had weapons and depth everywhere. But Ullmark, whose gaudy individual numbers had him as the betting favorite to win the Vezina Trophy, has been the breakout star. His .938 save percentage at the end of February was on track to be the best mark in the past 10 years (minimum 25 games), while his league-leading 33.3 goals saved above expected showed he wasn’t simply taking advantage of playing on a juggernaut squad.

“That’s a huge reason we have the record we have,” said coach Jim Montgomery. “He’s just so rock-solid. There’s nothing coming off his body, he just swallows everything up. He takes whistles when he should. He plays the puck extremely well. He’s having a fantastic year.”

Indeed, delving more into the advanced stats, Ullmark is freezing more pucks than expected, and his wins above replacement (5.54) leads all NHL goalies. Ullmark even got himself on the score sheet, becoming the first goalie in franchise history to score a goal – shooting the puck the length of the ice into an empty net against Vancouver on Feb. 25. “He’s been standing on his head and playing unbelievable,” Pastrnak said. “It’s fun to watch him, to be honest. He’s big, he’s playing confident in the net, and he’s having a special year.”

Ullmark was good for the Bruins last season after signing on as a free agent in the summer. But he split duty equally with rookie Jeremy Swayman, and it was Swayman who played the majority of Boston’s seven-game opening-round playoff loss to Carolina after the Hurricanes bombed Ullmark in the first two games. So where did this next level come from?

Let’s go way back and start with Ullmark’s roots. He grew up in Lugnvik, Sweden, not far from the legendary northern hockey city of Ornskoldsvik. That’s where the Modo program is based, and that’s where iconic names such as Peter Forsberg, Markus Naslund, the Sedin twins and Victor Hedman honed their craft before coming to the NHL. It’s where Ullmark got his start, too.

“It was a lot of fun,” he said. “My goal when I was young was to play for the big-league team, and I managed to get there. I had the opportunity to go through their system when I was in high school as well and met a lot of special people during my time there who still help me on my journey.”

In fact, Ullmark made his debut with the big team when he was just 18. The following summer (in 2012), the Buffalo Sabres drafted him 163rd overall. Ullmark continued to climb the ladder with Modo in the ensuing years and was the team’s starter for two seasons before he decamped for North America in 2015. His first pro season stateside was split between the Sabres and AHL Rochester, then mostly Rochester for the two years after that. He was with Buffalo full-time starting in 2018-19. Despite the team’s struggles, the experience was vital for his growth.

“It meant a lot,” Ullmark said. “I grew up, basically, over here in Rochester and Buffalo. I have a lot of gratitude towards that organization and all my teammates and coaches there over the years. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be where I am now.”

Ullmark arrived in Boston during a fascinating time for the franchise. The Bruins had been on easy street when it came to goalies for more than a decade, going from 2011 Cup-winning stopper Tim Thomas to backup-turned-star Tuukka Rask. With Rask’s future in question due to a hip injury and the B’s still one of the best teams in the East, Boston needed reinforcements. Swayman was a promising option whose NHL career got off to a great start at the end of 2020-21, but the team didn’t want to rush him. Ullmark, a free-agent signing, was the safer option.

As it turned out, both Swayman and Ullmark were solid last season, and that Ullmark has seized the starting role now hasn’t led to any friction because the two have a great relationship. “It’s part of the Bruins’ culture,” Montgomery said. “Everybody supports each other. Everybody is hoping the other one has success, and those two exemplify that. I guess the only other time I’ve seen that is when I was in college (with the NCAA Maine Black Bears) when Garth Snow and Mike Dunham were close like that.”

When asked why this season has gone so well for him, Ullmark finds himself still searching for a concrete answer – but he knows he has done it as part of a unit. “It’s hard to say,” Ullmark said. “I’ve been thinking of that myself. Small pieces here and there have fallen into place. I feel more at home in Boston since it’s no longer my first year, and we have a great team, it goes hand-in-hand with my performance and also Sway’s performance. It’s not a one-man show.”

And that’s what makes Boston such an easy pick for success. The Bruins’ culture has been so strong over the years – led by the likes of Zdeno Chara to Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand – that working new guys into the lineup appears to be seamless. “We are equal,” Pastrnak said. “The guys set such a high standard and have done so for years. It doesn’t matter if you’re in your first year or last, everybody is open to each other. We speak up and try to get better together as a group.”

For the Bruins to be in the mix as long as they have is admirable, and the end goal remains the same. Hence the passion. “We have a lot of personnel on our team that know what needs to be done,” Ullmark said. “First and foremost is Bergy, our captain. He knows what needs to be done and tells us to stay humble to the process, to believe in the process. And that’s what we try to work on every single day, doesn’t matter if we win or lose. Our goal is, at the end of the year, to win the last game of the season.”

A new voice has also helped the group. Montgomery is in his first year behind the bench, and while the man he replaced, Bruce Cassidy, is having his own success with the Vegas Golden Knights, the Bruins have been very happy under ‘Monty,’ with Pastrnak calling him a “pleasure to work with” and lauding the coach’s smarts and understanding of his players. And that respect goes both ways, as the bench boss has been impressed with how unselfish the team is. “The leadership, they’re professional every day they come to the rink, they want to be coached,” Montgomery said. “It’s a special group of people that want to be great.”

But you can’t be great without goaltending, and that’s why Ullmark has been so key to Boston’s success. “That’s what my line of work is,” he said. “And for some reason, it’s been going better than normal. You know, a lot of things have fallen into place. I have a good understanding of my game. I have a great relationship with my teammates and my coaches.”

As for expectations, Ullmark is fine with them. Clearly, the Bruins were going to be one of the most targeted (or feared, depending on how good or bad your lineup is) teams down the stretch, and when you rack up as many wins as they have, you can’t go into the playoffs claiming that nobody believed in you – even Travis Kelce would probably admit that Boston is the favorite. But that’s just fine with them.

Ullmark deflects hype just as well as he bats away pucks. “We, as players in our locker room, put more pressure on ourselves than anybody else could,” he said. “We know what to expect, we know what needs to be done out there. I would much rather be in this position than the opposite position, where you have a 33-percent winning percentage instead of 70 percent or whatever we’re at.”

Currently, the franchise is stuck on six Cups – that 2011 win being the most recent. Boston has been blessed with numerous pro-sports titles recently, but you know Bostonians would love another from their Bruins. Ullmark has been doing his part to make that happen, and he doesn’t plan on stopping. “It’s been working so far, so hopefully I can keep it up,” he said. “I’m very fortunate and blessed to be here, and now, I feel a lot of gratitude to my teammates who helped me get to this point. And to Boston itself.”